National Catholic Reporter - United Nationshttps://www.ncronline.org/locations/united-nations
enChurch helps people in Colombia move from 'vengeance' to reconciliationhttps://www.ncronline.org/news/world/church-helps-people-colombia-move-vengeance-reconciliation
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A woman mourns on a coffin during a ceremony to deliver the remains of victims of the conflict with paramilitary groups in Medellin, Colombia, Aug. 18, 2017. (CNS/Luis Eduardo Noriega A., EPA) </div>
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<p>In the complex peace process now underway in Colombia after 52 years of violent conflict, the Catholic Church works on many levels to replace a culture of violence with one of encounter.</p>
<p>Hopeful speakers at a Feb. 2 United Nations forum described the incremental steps taken by former combatants and their civil society counterparts to seek reconciliation and a lasting peace.</p>
<p>Colombian Archbishop Luis Castro Quiroga of Tunja, former president of the Colombian bishops' conference, said one of the church's roles is "helping people step away from vengeance and toward forgiveness and reconciliation."</p>
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<p>The first steps are the most difficult for people who have lived with violence for decades and those who take them must be enthusiastic until others can begin to feel the peace, he said.</p>
<p>After 52 years of armed conflict in Colombia, government and rebel leaders reached a peace accord in late 2016 that put an official end to a war that claimed more than 200,000 lives and displaced almost 7 million people.</p>
<p>The church is important to the process because it is impartial, knows the details of the conflict, can maintain dialogue and has an historic presence throughout the country, speakers said. Pope Francis' visit to Colombia Sept. 6-11, 2017, underscored the church's commitment to peace and its focus on the victims of the conflict.</p>
<p>Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, summarized the pope's five-point exhortation on moral courage, forgiveness, reconciliation, truth and justice. He said the pope's most important admonition was to "avoid the temptation to vengeance and offer forgiveness for past wrongs."</p>
<p>"Peace is not just ending a war, but also building a new country," Castro said. "Constructing a new country is the same as building a new house that needs new rooms," including room for political participation by women and others who have been excluded in the past.</p>
<p>Msgr. Hector Fabio Henao, director of Caritas Colombia, is president of the National Council for Peace, Reconciliation and Coexistence. The new group includes 105 representatives of government and civil society and is a venue for permanent dialogue to make the peace process diverse, inclusive and sustainable, he said.</p>
<p>Ambassador Maria Emma Mejia Velez, Colombia's permanent representative to the United Nations, said the establishment of a Special Jurisdiction for Peace is one of the most significant elements of the peace process. It is a transitional court to review the most serious crimes committed during the war, deliver judgment and impose penalties.</p>
<p>Castro said transitional justice helps facilitate the move from war to peace, but does not mean impunity. "It's an opportunity to use justice so there is a process that allows for peace," he said. People who admit their criminal responsibility may be treated more leniently than those who deny it and are found guilty.</p>
<p>David Cortright is director of the Peace Accords Matrix at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He said the Colombian peace agreement has more than 300 pages and 570 specific stipulations and is more complex than any other in the institute's extensive collection of peace accords.</p>
<p>Cortright said the implementation of the Colombian peace accord is on or ahead of the pace of other fruitful agreements, has brought an end to the armed conflict and secured the most successful disarmament of any accord he has studied.</p>
<p>He cautioned that "peace is more difficult than war and requires a sustained process," which typically takes at least 10 years before it can be evaluated.</p>
<p>The biggest current problem with implementation is the lack of security guarantees in the territories that were most affected by the war. "This is a grave threat to the overall peace process and takes away confidence that former combatants can return home," he said.</p>
<p>Citizen participation is a key factor in the long-term success of the peace process and must be encouraged by the government, Cortright said. Participation by citizens in civil programs and economic development will enhance democracy, especially in territories beyond the major urban centers, he said.</p>
<p>In addition to its religious leadership and social presence, the Catholic Church in Colombia participates in the peace dialogue, provides encouragement for participation of all parties and monitors the cease-fire.</p>
<p>Auza said many successful steps have been taken on the long journey to peace, but there are significant obstacles in the path.</p>
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<p>Speakers said the peace is challenged by outbreaks of violence, pressure on participants from groups that lost economic influence when the war ended, and the lack of progress on divisive land ownership issues. Nonetheless, widespread demobilization of more than 11 million armed combatants made 2017 the least violent in modern Colombian history and people move freely without fear of being shot, kidnapped or extorted, they said.</p>
<p>The theme of the side event was "Reconciliation and Peace in Colombia: Confidence-Building Developments and Continuing Challenges." It was co-sponsored by the Holy See's permanent observer mission to the United Nations, the Colombia's permanent U.N. mission, Caritas Internationalis, the Catholic Peacebuilding Network and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. </p>
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Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:01:15 +0000James Dearie161161 at https://www.ncronline.orgWars, violent conflicts main drivers of human trafficking, says nunciohttps://www.ncronline.org/news/world/wars-violent-conflicts-main-drivers-human-trafficking-says-nuncio
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Dutch police search a Spanish truck at the border after nine immigrants were rescued from the freezer of the vehicle in early February in Hazeldonk, Netherlands. The truck driver was arrested as a suspect involved in human trafficking. (CNS/Marcel van Dorst - MaRicMedia, EPA) </div>
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<p>As long as wars and conflicts rage, "trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation, forced labor and similar crimes will continue to flourish," said the Vatican's nuncio to the United Nations.</p>
<p>"To eradicate trafficking in persons, we must confront all its economic, environmental, political, and ethical causes, but it is particularly important to prevent and end the wars and conflicts that make people especially vulnerable to being trafficked," Archbishop Bernardito Auza said.</p>
<p>He made the comments in an intervention during a U.N. Security Council open debate Nov. 21 on human trafficking in conflict situations.</p>
<p>"Wars and violent conflicts have become the biggest driving force of forced human displacement," the archbishop said. "This situation is an enabling environment for human traffickers, who increasingly exploit this tragic humanitarian situation to target refugees, forced migrants and internally displaced persons themselves in their criminal enterprises."</p>
<p>"One of the most effective ways to eradicate trafficking in persons is therefore to prevent conflicts and put an end to wars," he said, urging the international community to work to end such conflicts and "the eradication of slavery" by addressing all of its causes.</p>
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<p>Auza cited U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 2331, which "refers to a correlation between trafficking in persons, sexual violence, armed conflict, terrorism and transnational organized crime." Issued in 2016, the resolution followed by a year the first meeting on trafficking to be held by the Security Council.</p>
<p>"The council has underscored that acts or offenses associated with trafficking in persons in conflict may constitute war crimes," he said.</p>
<p>Any efforts to end violent conflict must "be accompanied by measures to protect affected populations from traffickers, in particular those most vulnerable, like women and children," Auza said.</p>
<p>In that regard, he said, the Vatican wanted to highlight the importance of implementing the Responsibility to Protect "in the context of the migration and refugee crises that facilitate trafficking in persons."</p>
<p>Responsibility to Protect is a global political commitment endorsed by all U.N. member states at the 2005 World Summit "to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity."</p>
<p>"When states and the international community have failed to protect people from war and atrocities such that people have felt compelled to flee their homes," Auza continued, "we all have a great and urgent responsibility to protect them from further harm, including falling into the hands of human traffickers."</p>
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<p>Declaring that "forced migrants (and) undocumented and irregular migrants in general" are criminals "exacerbates their vulnerabilities, drives them further into the clutches of traffickers and other extreme forms of exploitation," he said.</p>
<p>Such criminalization also "renders them less likely to collaborate with the law enforcement authorities to catch and punish the traffickers," the archbishop added.</p>
<p>Achieving the specific targets of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals that are aimed at ending human trafficking "is an integral part of our efforts," he said.</p>
<p>"Likewise, leaders and followers of various religions around the world must do all in their power, within their respective communities and beyond, to save the millions of children, women and men who are forced to live in slave-like conditions," he said.</p>
<p>Auza said he and his delegation also wished to thank "all faith-based organizations and religious communities, in particular women religious, who have long been at the forefront in the fight against trafficking in persons."</p>
<p>He praised the organizations and women religious for their commitment "to accompany survivors with loving concern on the long journey back to living a life in freedom and dignity."</p>
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Tue, 28 Nov 2017 21:07:37 +0000Maria Benevento157396 at https://www.ncronline.orgUpdate: Panel looks at future of religious groups victimized by militantshttps://www.ncronline.org/news/people/update-panel-looks-future-religious-groups-victimized-militants
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Ekhlas Khudur Bajoo of Iraq gestures as she listens to Jacqueline Isaac during a Nov. 2 forum at U.N. headquarters in New York. Bajoo, 17, experienced six months of daily rape and humiliation by Islamic State militants who kidnapped her when she was 14. She said she sees herself as a symbol of hope for religious and ethnic minorities victimized by IS. (CNS/courtesy United Nations) </div>
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<p>The day she succeeded in her fourth attempt to escape six months of daily rape and humiliation by her Islamic State captors, Iraqi teen Ekhlas Khudur Bajoo made a vow.</p>
<p>"(I) promised myself not to stop until I brought justice. I'm fighting for all women and minority groups inside Iraq," she said.</p>
<p>Bajoo, now 17, told a Nov. 2 U.N. forum she sees herself as a symbol of hope for religious and ethnic minorities victimized by IS.</p>
<p>She is a Yezidi, an ancient ethno-religious minority indigenous to what is now northern Iraq. IS militants attacked Yezidis in August 2014, when Bajoo was 14. They kidnapped 6,000 women and girls and killed 5,800, including Bajoo's father.</p>
<p>Using the common Arabic name for IS, Bajoo said through an interpreter: "We want justice for the Daesh perpetrators, that they will be held accountable. What happened to us was a genocide. We want safety so we can live in peace."</p>
<p>A receptive, capacity crowd heard Bajoo, a former Syrian captive, U.N. ambassadors and leaders of aid organizations discuss "Peace, Reconciliation and Justice: The Future of Religious and Ethnic Minorities Victimized by Daesh" at a conference organized by the Vatican's Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations.</p>
<p>"Gabi," a 48-year-old Syrian Christian man whose identity was obscured in a taped interview, described being abducted and prepared for beheading for being "an infidel Christian."</p>
<p>He said his status as a husband and father apparently persuaded his captors to settle for a cash payment from his family in lieu of his execution. He was blindfolded, handcuffed and fitted with an explosive belt for his ride to freedom.</p>
<p>Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, said: "The international community must respond to the outrages systematically committed by Daesh with a rock-solid resolve to prevent similar future abominations from recurring.</p>
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<p>"Those entrusted with protecting the innocent and safeguarding respect for fundamental human rights must live up to their indispensable and inescapable responsibility to defend those in danger of suffering atrocity crimes," he said.</p>
<p>Jonathan Allen, deputy permanent representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, said it would be a mistake to think recent losses by IS mean that the job of the world community is complete. There must be "no hiding place" for those who perpetrate evil, he said.</p>
<p>"Where countries work together, it's harder for poisonous ideologies to take root," Allen said. The community of nations must work together, but each is responsible for a localized, effective approach to identify and monitor citizens who "try to slip away" to fight with IS, he said.</p>
<p>"Very few of our countries are untouched by Daesh," Allen said. "People from almost 120 countries are fighting with Daesh in Iraq." He asked what will happen when they return to their home countries.</p>
<p>Kelley Currie, U.S. representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, said words condemning violence are of little use if they are not backed by actions to rebuild lives destroyed by violence and unspeakable crimes.</p>
<p>Auza said religious leaders "have a grave and specific duty to confront and condemn the abuse of religious belief and sentiment to justify violence and terrorism against believers of other religions."</p>
<p>These leaders "must constantly and unequivocally affirm that no one can justly kill in God's name and say a clear and adamant 'no' to every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out supposedly in the name of God or religion."</p>
<p>The archbishop and other speakers said the effort to defeat, punish and disband IS must be concurrent with the eradication of hateful ideologies that motivate extremist groups.</p>
<p>In addition, displaced survivors need immediate assistance with basic needs such as food, water, shelter, education and health.</p>
<p>They also need access to psychiatric and medical treatment, legal advice and advocacy for economic and social empowerment, according to Nezar Ismet Taib Abdullah, regional director of health in Dohuk, Iraq. He addressed the forum via video.</p>
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<p>"For people to return home, they need a structured strategic plan to encourage peacebuilding and peaceful coexistence. They need to know each other and how their religions are related and learn to accept their differences," he said. Returnees need safety, security, and assistance to rebuild homes and cities.</p>
<p>Michael Farris, CEO of Alliance Defending Christians, said people must see the relationship between seemingly lesser crimes and the unspeakable ones such as genocide.</p>
<p>When smaller crimes are tolerated, including those based on religion, it becomes acceptable to inflict larger human rights violations, he said. Nonetheless, when crimes cannot be prevented, they must be punished, he said.</p>
<p>Edward Clancy, director of outreach and evangelization for Aid to the Church in Need, said his group is working to rebuild homes for 95,000 displaced Christians who fled IS violence in the Ninevah Plains of Iraq in 2014.</p>
<p>Among other efforts to help persecuted Christians is a plan by the Knights of Columbus to rebuild Karamles, a predominantly Christian town in Iraq destroyed by IS.</p>
<p>The event referenced Security Council Resolution 2379 adopted unanimously Sept. 21 that condemned IS attacks against civilians, violations of international humanitarian law and abuses of human rights.</p>
<p>The resolution charged IS with a litany of abuses including, "murder, kidnapping, hostage-taking, suicide bombings, enslavement, sale into or otherwise forced marriage, trafficking in persons, rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence, recruitment and use of children, attacks on critical infrastructure as well as its destruction of cultural heritage including archaeological sites, and trafficking of cultural property."</p>
<p>The resolution urged establishment of a U.N. investigative team to hold IS accountable.</p>
<p>On Oct. 25, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said U.N. efforts failed to help persecuted Christians and other minority religious communities in the Middle East. Pence said aid from the United States to those persecuted in the region would henceforth be routed through the U.S. Agency for International Development and faith-based and private organizations.</p>
<p>The Nov 2 event was co-sponsored by the U.N. NGO Committee on the Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Roads of Success organization.</p>
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Thu, 09 Nov 2017 17:33:25 +0000Maria Benevento156511 at https://www.ncronline.orgPoverty, violence hinder progress for many women, girls, says nunciohttps://www.ncronline.org/news/people/poverty-violence-hinder-progress-many-women-girls-says-nuncio
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Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican&#039;s permanent observer to the United Nations, greets Sundra Lee-Ingemanson and her husband, Matts Ingemanson, following a prayer service Sept. 11 at Holy Family Church in New York City. (CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz) </div>
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<p>Conditions in many parts of the world force women and girls to bear the burden of carrying out everyday chores for their families and communities, keeping many of them from getting even a basic education, the Vatican's United Nations nuncio said Oct. 6.</p>
<p>Females are often the victims of sexual and other violence, which prevents them from improving life for themselves and their families, said Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican's permanent observer to the U.N. Migrant women and girls are particularly vulnerable to these situations, he added.</p>
<p>He addressed the issue of women's advancement during a session at the U.N. of the Third Committee, which focuses on social, humanitarian and cultural issues.</p>
<p>"Young women in rural areas are disproportionately involved in unpaid domestic work and especially bear the greatest burden when access to clean water and sanitation is not readily available," Auza said. "They are forced to spend considerable time and effort collecting water for the community, and in doing so, their access to basic education is often thwarted, not to mention that, in many isolated places, they are also exposed to risks of violence."</p>
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<p>Failure to achieve "that basic human right" of universal access to safe drinkable water "can undermine other human rights, as it is a prerequisite for their realization," he said.</p>
<p>Pope Francis in his encyclical "Laudato Si'" points to "the abandonment and neglect … experienced by some rural populations which lack access to essential services," Auza said, quoting the document. In many areas, the pope noted, "some workers are reduced to conditions of servitude, without rights or even the hope of a more dignified life."</p>
<p>Women and girls often bear "the heaviest burden from these deprivations," the archbishop said.</p>
<p>Regarding education, "significant progress has been made toward parity between boys and girls from families of relative wealth or decent economic standing," the archbishop said, but women and girls who live in poverty lack schooling, literacy skills and opportunities for adult education.</p>
<p>Adolescent girls "are at the greatest risk of exclusion from education due to social and economic hardships," Auza said. "Whenever young women and girls do not have access to education, they are hindered from becoming dignified agents of their own development."</p>
<p>To change this reality, the "basic material needs of every school-age girl living in rural areas must be addressed," Auza said. One initiative that has "proven efficient," he said, is providing school meals to reduce girls' absenteeism. Such efforts should be encouraged "to guarantee access to education to each and every girl," he added.</p>
<p>A current partnership between local farmers, including women, and the World Food Program of the U.N. to provide "homegrown school meals" in 37 countries is "a hopeful example," Auza said. The effort "attends to the needs of girls and boys, fosters education and increases market access for women, all at the same time," he said.</p>
<p>Based in Rome, the World Food Program is the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security. It provides food aid to an average of 80 million people in 76 countries each year.</p>
<p>Addressing the violence women and girls face, Auza again quoted Francis in saying that eliminating violence is impossible "until exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples are reversed."</p>
<p>"Through poverty and exclusion, adolescent girls, especially those in rural areas, also experience heightened vulnerability to sexual exploitation, child marriage and other unacceptable forms of violence," the archbishop said. "The horrifying prevalence of violence against women, thus, remains a salient and sad example of the deep connection between economic exclusion and violence."</p>
<p>Archbishop Auza also discussed the current global migration crisis and its effect on migrant women and girls in particular, reminding the global community it has a responsibility "to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate" migrants and refugees.</p>
<p>"Millions of women and girls are fleeing violent conflicts or extreme poverty only to find themselves exploited by traffickers and manipulators along perilous routes and even in host communities," the archbishop said.</p>
<p>The Vatican's U.N. delegation, he said, "strongly supports the international community in its efforts to raise awareness and take concrete steps to prevent the abhorrent phenomenon of violence perpetrated against migrant women and girls."</p>
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<p>"Women often heroically defend and protect their families, sacrificing much to achieve a better life for themselves and their children," Auza said. "They deserve to be assisted and supported in order to realize their legitimate aspirations to a better life for themselves and for their loved ones."</p>
<p>He said the Vatican "remains strongly committed" to endeavors aimed "at truly protecting women's dignity, while promoting their integral development and advancement within the family and society."</p>
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Tue, 10 Oct 2017 15:15:45 +0000James Dearie154816 at https://www.ncronline.orgVatican diplomat calls on U.N. to pursue peace in world's trouble spotshttps://www.ncronline.org/news/world/vatican-diplomat-calls-un-pursue-peace-worlds-trouble-spots
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Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister, is greeted by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Sept. 26 at the State Department in Washington. The previous day Archbishop Gallagher spoke at United Nations headquarters in New York. (CNS/State Department) </div>
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<p>A Vatican official called on the world's governments to strive more actively to prevent wars, protect human dignity and the environment and work toward a nuclear-free world.</p>
<p>During an address to the United Nations General Assembly Sept. 25, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister, also described the right to life and freedom of religion as pillars of peace and development, allowing human rights to flow from them.</p>
<p>He addressed the drug trade, trafficking in persons and the importance of protecting innocent people from violence and war in his wide-ranging speech that echoed numerous concerns raised by Pope Francis during his pontificate.</p>
<p>"Putting people always first means protecting, at every stage and in every circumstance, the dignity of the person and its human rights and fundamental freedoms," Archbishop Gallagher said. He called such protections "the common foundation of peace and security and integral human development."</p>
<p>"These two human rights are indivisible from those other rights and fundamental freedoms relating to a dignified spiritual, material and intellectual life for each citizen and for their families, among others, the right to food, the right to water, the right for housing, the right to safe environment and the right to work," he said.</p>
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<p>Calling the U.N.'s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris agreement on climate change two signs of hope for the world, Archbishop Gallagher also urged the world's governments to do more to implement the legal and political commitments contained in them.</p>
<p>Implementing the agreements, he said, "could be a way of focusing all countries and international organizations on working together for peace, leaving aside the dangerous game of exchanging threats."</p>
<p>All nations have a duty to prevent war and violent conflicts that harm innocent civilians, the archbishop continued. He said the prevention of violence requires faith that negotiations to ease tensions can be fruitful.</p>
<p>"An environment of trust is urgently needed. All countries should take a decisive and urgent step back from the present escalation of military preparations. The largest countries and those who have a stronger tradition of respecting human rights should be the first to perform generous actions of pacification. All the diplomatic and political means of mediation should be engaged to avoid the unspeakable," Archbishop Gallagher stressed.</p>
<p>He called for a renewed emphasis by all governments on the importance of protecting populations from "genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity."</p>
<p>The war in Yemen is of particular concern and the "tragedy from the war in Syria continues to grow every day," the archbishop said. He also said political divisions and instability in Venezuela as well as tensions in the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, Ukraine, South Sudan and Central African Republic pose threats to the well-being of citizens in those countries in calling on the world to seek peaceful alternatives to war and violence.</p>
<p>"Our common humanity impels us all, as Pope Francis has proposed, to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate those who flee from such adverse conditions," Archbishop Gallagher told the General Assembly delegates. "These four actions are based on the proposition that migrants, in spite of many real or imagined challenges, are a good for society, and on the principle of solidarity with those in need."</p>
<p>He said the Holy See will work to ensure that the four actions will be included in the global compact for refugees the U.N. will consider in September 2018.</p>
<p>Archbishop Gallagher cited the need to more fully address the "evil" of human trafficking and the heinous nature of the drug trade in many countries around the world.</p>
<p>Human trafficking involves "the utter loss of respect for human dignity and the total indifference to the sufferings of fellow human beings. Modern slavery happens when 'people are treated like objects,' he explained. The archbishop called for a stronger focus on efforts to end human trafficking, saying "putting people first" ought to be the primary concern of the U.N.</p>
<p>In addition, Archbishop Gallagher called for an end to the arms trade -- licit and illicit -- around the world. "The proliferation of arms, including weapons of mass destruction, among terrorist groups and other nonstate actors has become a real danger," he said.</p>
<p>He did not leave nuclear powers untouched, saying that these countries must lead the effort toward disarmament, including nuclear disarmament, and arms control.</p>
<p>"The proliferation of weapons simply aggravates situations of conflict and results in unimaginable human suffering and material costs, profoundly undermining development, human rights and the search for lasting peace," the diplomat said. "Without greater international and regional cooperation, especially among weapons-producing states, to control and limit strictly the production and movement of weapons, a world free of wars and violent conflicts will surely remain an illusion."</p>
<p>Archbishop Gallagher noted that the Holy See has signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons approved by the U.N. in July. He said that while much remains to be done for the treaty to take effect, "the Holy See believes that it is one more blow on the anvil toward the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: 'They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.'"</p>
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<p>The following day, Archbishop Gallagher met with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington.</p>
<p>During a photo opportunity, Tillerson was asked about U.S. relations with North Korea.</p>
<p>"We're going to continue to pursue our diplomatic efforts and hope that's the way we'll solve this," Tillerson replied.</p>
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Tue, 26 Sep 2017 20:43:22 +0000James Dearie154081 at https://www.ncronline.orgOpposing nuclear weapons, young and old find common groundhttps://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/opposing-nuclear-weapons-young-and-old-find-common-ground
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by Chris Herlinger </div>
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United Nations </span>
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<p><strong>United Nations -</strong> Activists in their 60s, 70s and even 80s cheered alongside a newer cohort in their 20s and 30s as 122 U.N. member states declared nuclear arms illegal.</p>
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Fri, 14 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000Teresa Malcolm150106 at https://www.ncronline.orgWorld ignores warming, pollution of oceans at own peril, say speakershttps://www.ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/world-ignores-warming-pollution-oceans-own-peril-say-speakers
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by Beth Griffin by Catholic News Service </div>
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Eco Catholic </span>
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United Nations </span>
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<p>If left unchecked, warming, pollution, and acidification of the world's oceans will have drastic socio-ecological consequences, according to speakers at the June 5-9 Ocean Conference at the United Nations.</p>
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Thu, 08 Jun 2017 21:49:48 +0000Kristen Daniels147961 at https://www.ncronline.orgArchbishop: Migration should be a choice, not 'something forced'https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/archbishop-migration-should-be-choice-not-something-forced
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by Catholic News Service </div>
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United Nations </span>
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<p>Migration should be "a choice rather than something forced or involuntary," said Philippine Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations.</p>
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Thu, 25 May 2017 18:26:51 +0000Shireen Korkzan147056 at https://www.ncronline.orgMedecins Sans Frontieres slams major UN powers over hospital attackshttps://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/medecins-sans-frontieres-slams-major-un-powers-over-hospital-attacks
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by Michelle Nichols by Louis Charbonneau by Reuters </div>
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United Nations </span>
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<p><strong>Hospitals bombed and attacked. </strong>Medical aid charity Medecins Sans Frontieres demands protection for doctors, nurses, mid-waves and patients.</p>
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Wed, 04 May 2016 13:54:12 +0000Dennis Coday124091 at https://www.ncronline.org'Collective international response' only counter to terror, nuncio sayshttps://www.ncronline.org/news/world/collective-international-response-only-counter-terror-nuncio-says
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by Catholic News Service </div>
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United Nations </span>
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<p>Only a "collective international response" can thwart the specter of terrorism that crosses borders, according to the Vatican's permanent observer mission to the United Nations.</p>
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Wed, 20 Apr 2016 17:06:42 +0000Elizabeth Elliott123216 at https://www.ncronline.org